THE CREATION OF THE EARTH.

God Said.

Be gather'd now, ye waters under heav'n
Into one place, and let the dry land appear.
Immediately the mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad backs upheave
Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky.
So high as heav'd the tumid hills, so low
Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep,
Capacious bed of waters: thither they
Hasted with glad precipitance, uproll'd
As drops on dust conglobing from the dry:
Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,

For haste; such flight the great command imprest
On the swift floods; as armies at the call
Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)
Troop to their standard, so the wat'ry throng,
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found;
If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,
Soft ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill,
But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
With the serpent error wand'ring, found their way,
And on the washy ooze deep channels wore,
Easy ere God had bid the ground be dry,
All but within those banks, where rivers now
Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.
The dry land Earth, and the great receptacle
Of congregated waters he call'd seas;

And saw that it was good, and said let th' earth
Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,
And fruit-trees yielding fruit after her kind;
Whose seed is in herself upon the earth.

He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then
Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn'd,

Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad
Her universal face pleasant with green;

Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd,
Op'ning their various colors, and made gay

Her bosoming smelling sweet; and these scarce blown,
Forth flourish thick the clustering vine, forth crept

The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
Embattl'd in her field; and th' humble shrub,
And bush with frizzled hair implicit; last

Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread

Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemm'd

Their blossoms: with high wood the hills were crown'd;

With tufts the valleys and each mountain side,
With borders 'long the rivers; that earth now

Seem'd like to heaven, a seat where Gods might dwell
Or wander with delight, and love to haunt

Her sacred shades.

ODE TO THE CREATION.

The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim;
Th' unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land

The work of an Almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And, nightly to the list'ning earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;

While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,

And spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though, in solemn silence, all

Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound,
Amid their radiant orbs be found?

In Reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice;

For ever singing as they shine,

"The hand that made us is divine."

HEAVEN PRESENT.

Not only around our infancy

Doth heaven with all its splendors lie;
Daily, with souls that cringe and plot,
We Sinai climb and know it not.

Over our manhood bends the skies;
Against our fallen and traitor lives

The great winds utter prophecies;

With our faint hearts the mountain strives;